George Hill leads the way yet again for Yorkshire CCC as hosts shine with the ball

He now has 32 wickets this year at 13.62. The 24-year-old is in the form of his young life.

Not that it was all about Hill on a hard-fought day of First Division cricket, one that was nothing less than compelling for a crowd of 1,720 who watched in watery sunshine.

Jordan Thompson also shone with figures of 3-77 from 21 overs, a typically whole-hearted performance from the 28-year-old, and he took the catch that gave Hill his fifth wicket as the shadows lengthened.

When Joe Clarke, the Nottinghamshire top-scorer with a fine 64, tried to reverse scoop Hill towards the Howard Stand while batting with the tail, Thompson judged the sprawling catch to perfection, somehow emerging with the ball as his team-mates converged.

It typified the spirit and commitment of the team. It was what those Yorkshire supporters had all come to see.

Although the first change bowlers of Hill and Thompson hogged the wickets column, the new-ball pair of Ben Coad and Jack White were excellent too.

After Dom Bess - deputising as captain for Mumbai Indians’ Jonny Bairstow - won the toss and opted to insert on another competitive pitch, with Yorkshire once more taking the positive option of leaving plenty of grass on to help with pace and carry, Coad and White were excellent first up, deserving much better than a lunchtime score of 67-2 from 30 overs which was tribute too to how well Nottinghamshire grafted and played with soft hands.

White removed Haseeb Hameed early in the piece, the Nottinghamshire captain brilliantly caught low down to his right at point by James Wharton, and Thompson had Freddie McCann nibbling low to Hill at first slip just before lunch, but White and Coad could have struck numerous times in the early stages, the pitch offering just enough assistance.

To that end, Ben Slater, the visiting opener, could be highly pleased to have negotiated the opening session with 31 to his name, having shared 56 with McCann inside 23 overs. Scoring opportunities had been few and far between, White’s opening spell from the Howard Stand end producing figures of 6-4-3-1 and Coad’s first burst 8-3-13-0.

Proceedings were nip-and-tuck, and after weathering the early storm as well as could reasonably have been hoped, Nottinghamshire were just starting to move into a menacing position at 102-2 following a positive beginning to the afternoon session. In two shakes of a lamb’s tail, though, they were 121-5, the pendulum swinging back towards the hosts as Thompson and Hill made important interventions.

First, Thompson took his second wicket when he bowled Slater with a fine ball that snaked past the outside edge, the 33-year-old’s dogged effort curtailed at 52 from 111 balls with seven fours. Then Hill took two wickets in successive overs, Jack Haynes shouldering arms to one that angled in before Kyle Verreynne was done through the gate with another nip-backer.

Throughout it all, Clarke remained impassive and imperious, batting through the afternoon session to reach 47 out of 178-5 at tea, a healthier position after that mini collapse.

Lyndon James contributed 29 to their stand of 71 before he perished eight overs into the final session, top-edging a pull off Thompson into the backward square-leg region where wicketkeeper Harry Duke - recalled with Bairstow absent and Jonny Tattersall injured - took a fine running catch.

Bess, leading Yorkshire for the first time in a first-class match after two one-day games in charge in 2021, marshalled the troops well and kept energy levels high. The crowd played their part too with vocal and suitably partisan support, not least when Clarke took at least three phrases of the moon to settle on a replacement bat that led to exasperated cries of “Gerron wi’ it, Clarke, I’ll be late home for me tea” from somewhere within a chuntering Trueman Enclosure.

Clarke advanced to his half-century from 123 balls with eight fours but wickets continued to fall around him, Liam Patterson-White pushing at one from Hill to give Duke another catch.

Brett Hutton fiddled Hill to Adam Lyth at second slip and after Hill removed Clarke, White finished things off when Dillon Pennington tried to hit him into the middle of next week and was bowled for his audacity.

A standing ovation accompanied Hill from the field, matchball in hand, after his third five-wicket haul in successive games.

Lyth and Fin Bean were caught behind late in the day as Yorkshire closed on 10-2.